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Folk,
I have a friend who was ritualistically abused since birth.
It caused me to realize this:
People use witchcraft to control other people with programing and curses.
However, people become politicians because they want to control other people with laws and rules.
And that is why I think politicians are evil. All of them.
Therefore, we need to realize that voting will always be a matter of picking the least of two evils...
I'm sitting near my computer.
We are drawing near to the end of a bid on a 1996 Taurus Wagon.
Why you wonder? Well, I see automobiles as 2 things:
1.) A way for me to earn money photographing them and
2.) An instantly/continually depreciating means for me to move my studio from place to place (read this article to see why).
The Taurus wagon is the only car made that can fit my studio gurney. That gurney is part of what makes my studio so successful. I can shoot anywhere I can drive and can have all of my special comfy personal equipment with me. It cuts down on surprises considerably.
I had a great green Taurus wagon until last August. That day at 7:02 PM, I was sitting at a red light and driven through at 40 mph by an overly large pick-up with a big wooden bumper.
The good news is that I am totally fine. The wagon soaked up all of the impact and I am healthy as a horse (what ever that means). The bad news is that my beloved Taurus wagon (which got 24 mpg), is toast.
It is the perfect car for my business, but now it's gone.
And that is why I am sitting by my computer, seeing if my bid holds on a replacement 1996 Taurus wagon.
I moved to NYC in 1975
Although I had a BS degree in Photography from RIT, I knew that I really didn't know anything about NYC commercial photography. Therefore I was a freelance assistant for many great photographers to learn the "business". The Mark who graduated with me and dragged me (thank you) to NYC (He got me my first assistant job), is still my friend today. We've had our ups and downs over the last 35 years, but we're pretty even now, and getting along well. That's cool!
One of the 10 photographers I assisted regularly back in the mid 70's was Mike Harris. He shot lots of food and drinks for big advertisers. I built sets, loaded film, moved lights, all the things assistants do for photographers. He was always a nice guy, and a good boss.
We kept in touch with each other after I started my own business, and have even shot together occasionally. My expertise in digital has brought us together as peers but still as friends. It's nice.
That's what I mean about having history. I have a number of colleagues, some peers some previous employers, who continue to be good friends after all these years. We share information and knowledge back and forth, share our lives as they are today, and just relate on all levels.
And that's why it's nice having a history in this business.
New photographers remember, be nice. You're developing relationships that can benefit you for the rest of your life.
I have a saying:
"Photographers are crazy when they are not busy because they realize they may never work again. Still, the overhead goes on and on. They are also crazy when they are busy because clients can be demanding and the schedules can be grueling". Therefore it seems, commercial photographers are just crazy!
I got up this morning looking forward to a fairly easy day. I knew I would meet with my master's degree independent study student at 2 PM, and teach 62 miles away at 6 PM, but that until 2:00 I could just relax.
Then my beloved (yes) client called. All of a sudden I needed to retouch 13 images to match marketing's desires, and then print them. That would be easy except that I am not a match printer. I'm a sort of close-to accurate printer. Still, I had to skip my meeting with my master's student (sorry Mark), work like a crazy retoucher, make the files ready for the printer, and then just make it to Fed-Ex and finally to college. Whew!
In only one day I went from crazy slow to crazy busy.
My client, unless she happens to read this, will never know. I guess that's why people don't necessarily think of commercial photographers as crazy. Our families know but our clients, if we do it right, never will. Still, I would never trade this life for anything.
(Does anyone reading this realize that the yellow things in the shot are 8X10 film boxes?)
I am teaching at two colleges this semester. One is Introduction to Digital Photography, and the other is a Studio Lighting course. It's fun to take students who have been taught nothing but fine art photography and lead them in the paradigm shift of the studio where you are the creator from start to finish. Some get it, some never do, but they all get to see and experience part of the world that is commercial digital photography. You never know what sharing the things you love will result in... maybe inspiring my toughest competitor?
